Leaders Largely Ignore Immigrants Dying To Reach Better Lives

U.S. & LATIN AMERICA - PUERTO RICO REPORT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The confounding winds in the Caribbean Sea have washed wayward ships onto these shores since the days of Christopher Columbus.

Last week, the same crosswinds steered eight rickety vessels, containing 178 people from the Dominican Republic, toward beaches on the western shores of Puerto Rico.

The Dominicans braved choppy seas in search of an opportunity to improve their lives. One woman, trying to flee approaching U.S. immigration authorities, jumped into the ocean and began swimming toward her destination rather than face authorities who sought to intercept her at sea.

Her body was later found near the coastal town of Aguadilla. Ironically, she washed ashore not far from where Columbus once landed.

In a development that has seemingly defied solution, the number of Dominicans making this voyage continues to grow, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Since October, for instance, the number of "boat people" apprehended leaving the Dominican Republic for Puerto Rico has hit nearly 2,000, up 60 percent from the same period a year ago.

The number of Dominican migrants who arrive without detection is much higher, federal authorities on Puerto Rico say.

One can draw a sad parallel to the rush of Mexicans entering the United States via a particularly harsh section of their border since a crackdown by U.S. authorities on illegal migration after Sept. 11, 2001.

Since then, almost one person a day has died while making that desert crossing. Most of them died of dehydration or overexposure, officials say.

Exactly how many have died is unclear. Immigration activists contend 2,592 have died since 1995. U.S. immigration officials say that number should be pared back to about 1,339. Still, they say, the 409 deaths on the U.S.-Mexican border last year do indicate those numbers are increasing.

But no one argues this: The prospect of more deaths in the narrow Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic wasn't a hot topic among the heads of state gathered at the Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico, last week.

President Bush said only that he envisions launching "free trade" talks among the United States, the Dominican Republic and Panama as a way to boost the economic fortunes of those nations. It's about spreading economic opportunity across the hemisphere, administration officials said.

What's baffling about the situation is how little public attention we in the United States have given a problem that has become equally as urgent as the post-Sept. 11 crossings from Mexico into Texas or Arizona.

Consider that no one can account for 300 or so people who crossed between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, or nearby islands, during the past three years.

Here's the biggest difference: In Mexico, someone crossing the border can always turn back. Not so in a yola, a rickety boat used in these ocean crossings, because there are usually a dozen or more passengers making the 75-mile trip from the Dominican Republican to Puerto Rico.

The waters are very unfriendly, as well, and there is no guarantee that the winds will push the boats into Puerto Rico. Thus, some of those boats have been lost at sea.

"The large numbers of people who have died [making the crossing] is certainly something surprising," said Trevor Purcell, chairman of the Department of African Studies at the University of South Florida. "You just don't hear a lot about people making that voyage or the numbers of people who just don't make it across."

It can cost $200 to $600 for a smuggler to reserve a seat on a yola. Immigration officials acknowledge that, once in Puerto Rico, it's an easy hop to the mainland United States.

"What you're seeing is people looking for higher wages," explained Daniel T. Griswold, a trade and immigration official with the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute.

"Most of the time we hear about these kinds of boats coming from Haiti, and I can tell you the economy of the Dominican Republic, by comparison, is doing a lot better than its neighbor.